1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a slide cover linking mechanism with both push aid effect and end buffering effect, and more particularly to a slide cover linking mechanism, which provides a push strength saving and slide buffering/protection effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following the rapid advance of various portable electronic products, all kinds of slide cover linking structures have been continuously developed. For example, Taiwanese Patent Publication No. I208031 discloses a slide cover device, Publication No. M297113 discloses a slidable pivot device, and Publication No. M379940 discloses an elastic unit of slide cover device. These patents provide slide cover linking structures for easily pushing the slide covers to semiautomatically open/close the slide covers. However, there are only few patents for providing buffering or damping effect at the final stage of the sliding travel. Some designs simply provide elastic elements at the end for achieving buffering effect. Such elastic elements only provide very short buffering travel. As a result, at the final stage of the opening/closing travel of the slide cover, a violent deceleration is likely to take place. Under such circumstance, the slide cover is frequently impacted. This will affect the assembling stability of the relevant components or even lead to damage to the components.
To overcome the above problem, Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 200950462 discloses an electronic device with slide cover buffering function. The device includes a main body and a slide cover slidable on the main body. A buffering unit is additionally disposed between the main body and the slide cover. When the slide cover slides relative to the main body, the buffering unit serves to provide a resistance against the sliding of the slide cover for slowing down the sliding speed thereof. Such structure somewhat is able to avoid improper impact of the slide cover to the product due to high-speed sliding and sudden stop. However, the structure also acts as an obstacle to the drive of the slide cover. As a result, a user needs to exert a greater force to the slide cover in operation (for driving the slide cover as well as overcoming the resistance of the buffering unit). Therefore, the user can hardly conveniently use the electronic product.